Six Things it Pleased God to Do

Introduction.  We often speak of things that “please” us. By that we often mean different things:

• Something that gives us pleasure. 1 Cor. 7:32-34 speak of the consequence of marriage being that husband and wife seek to “please” one another, while the one who is not married should seek to “please” the Lord. Around this time of year many people might be heard to say that they were “pleased” to be able to be with family.
• Some times we use it APPEASING someone (i.e. trying to get or stay on their good side). La Fontaine said, “He is very foolish who aims at pleasing all the world, or his father” Fables bk. 3, fab. 1. (Obviously this man had some issues with his father!)
• Sometimes we will speak of that which one allows or chooses as that which “pleases” the person. A king might be said to be “pleased” to go to the theater or to pardon a criminal.

Obviously, the context determines the application of the word. Tonight, I would like for us to consider some things the Bible says that it “pleased” God to do. We will see from the context some of the same kinds of distinctions, as we look at six things it “pleased” God to do.

I.  “Yet it Pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (Isa. 53:7-10).

1. It was necessary for Christ to die that man might be saved (Luke 24:45-47).
2. God made Christ to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

II.   “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell” (Col. 1:15-19).

1. Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1; 1:14).
2. God the Father gave God the Son all authority (Matt. 28:18).

III.   “…It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:20-25).

1. God’s word accomplishes just what God intends (Isa. 55:11).
2. It discerns the thoughts of the heart (Heb. 4:12-13).

IV.   “…It pleased God …to reveal His Son in me…” (Gal. 1:13-17).

1. The church was built on the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:19-22).
2. The apostles’ doctrine instructs us (Phil. 4:8-9).

 V.   “But now God has set the members, each one of the, in the body just as He pleased” (1 Cor. 12:14-18).

1. God gives different abilities to different people (Rom. 12:6-8).
2. We must do all to the glory of God  (1 Pet. 4:10-11).

 VI.   “But God gives it a body as He pleases” (1 Cor. 15:35-40).

1. Christians can take comfort in the hope of the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
2. The inner man is daily renewed (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Conclusion. God the Father took no delight in the horrible death of Jesus on the cross, but in being “pleased” to allow God the Son to pay this atonement for man’s sin, in being “pleased” to offer salvation through the simple message of the gospel, we can be added to the Lord’s body just as God “pleases” in the anticipation one day of the resurrection from the dead.